(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) 2017-8-14"/> August 14, 2017 Pakistan has historically taken the lead in female empowerment, with its very foundations rooted in the democratic ideals of gender equality.
moreover, pakistan's constitution explicitly enshrines gender equality by denying discrimination based on sex. the inter-parliamentary union ranks pakistan ahead of most developed democracies such as canada, us, uk, and japan in terms of female political representation, with women constituting 22 per cent of members of the lower and 17 per cent of the upper house. pakistan twice achieved the feat for democratically electing a woman prime minister which is unmatched in asia and the islamic world. in fact, leading democracies like us and japan are yet to elect a woman chief executive of country. pakistan currently has a female foreign secretary, while other women recently held positions of foreign minister, speaker and governor, central bank. they are now also flying commercial and fighter jets, and serving in un peacekeeping missions to ensure global peace and security. samina baig shot to global fame conquering mount everest at 21, becoming the third person from pakistan and the youngest and first muslim woman to achieve this feat. she has since conquered highest peaks on all continents. arfa karim, at the age of nine, became the youngest microsoft certified professional, inspiring her entire generation whereas laraib atta, at the age of 18 became the first pakistani female visual effects artist in hollywood, working for movies such as godzilla, gravity, and x-men: days of future past. young pakistani girls in oman have made us further proud with remarkable achievements. in june 2017, ayesha afridi (18) was declared first from 6,000 participants in q'uran recitation (female category), whereas earlier in april, shehrbano hasan (16) was declared 'best position paper' out of 900 participants in dubai model un nuclear security summit organized by iea.